To compare real-life performance we shot the same scene with the Canon EOS 60D and EOS 50D within a few moments of each other using their best quality JPEG settings and base sensitivities.

Both cameras were fitted with the same Canon EF 24-105mm f4L IS lens, set to 24mm f8 and focused on the target area using Live View at 10x.

The image above was taken with the Canon EOS 60D at 100 ISO with an exposure of 1/320 and the lens set to 24mm f8 in Aperture Priority; the original Large Fine JPEG measured 8.17MB. The EOS 50D selected the same exposure in Aperture Priority, with its slightly lower resolution image measuring 6.35MB. The crops below are taken from the areas marked with the red squares and presented here at 100%. The crops from the EOS 50D show a larger area due to its lower resolution.

With a difference of 3 Megapixels between them, you'd expect the EOS 60D to resolve slightly more detail than its predecessor, but a much more obvious difference is their respective processing styles using the default settings. Just one glance at the crops below reveals the EOS 60D to be delivering much crisper, consumer-friendly images using the default settings compared to the earlier EOS 50D, which comes across as relatively soft and muted by comparison.

We saw exactly the same effect when testing other recent Canon DSLRs: the EOS 50D was one of the last Canon DSLRs to employ a relatively laid-back approach to image processing by default, the idea presumably being that you'd tweak the settings yourself or boost them afterwards in software.

As more consumers bought DSLRs though, there was a drive towards the punchier processing styles of typical point-and-shoot compacts. So from models like the EOS 5D Mark II onwards, Canon adopted a more lively approach to the default in-camera JPEG processing style of its DSLRs. The style you see here for the EOS 60D is no different to the EOS 550D / T2i, EOS 7D or even the EOS 5D Mark II before it. The sharpening, contrast and saturation are all slightly higher than older generations, delivering a more consumer-friendly JPEG straight from the camera without modification.

Which style you prefer is entirely personal, but we believe Canon's struck the right balance between boosting the settings to reveal all the detail in the image without going over the top and suffering from undesirable artefacts. But the important thing is to realise the difference in style you see here between the EOS 60D and its predecessor is almost purely down to processing settings. Tone down the EOS 60D settings or boost those on the EOS 50D and you'll get very similar-looking results. Likewise if you shoot in RAW and apply the same settings to both files, the output will again look very similar, and that's exactly what we've done on the next page.

So looking beyond processing style, does the EOS 60D enjoy any resolution advantage thanks to its extra 3 Megapixels? In the crops below it's certainly very subtle. Look very closely at the finest details and you may spot the EOS 60D delivering fractionally higher resolution, but there's not a great deal in it.